In this Thanksgiving Episode, Lois cooks up a big dinner and invites friends, family, and neighbors — but the dinner turns into a political discussion when Joe's estranged son, Kevin, returns from fighting in Iraq, revealing that he deserted his position in protest.

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Bowdlerization and Critical Research Failure: Brian's line after Ida tells him that Kevin was wrong to desert his post in Iraq is "Well, you're just a dumb tranny" in the DVD version. On TV, the line is "Well, you're a dumb drag queen." A drag queen and a tranny (transsexual) are not the same thing, even though they're both in the LGBT spectrum. A drag queen is a person who dresses in an exaggerated feminine manner. A transsexual (specifically a male-to-female one) gets surgery done to be a woman. However, this can be excused as social ignorance on Brian's part and the fact that the latter word has come to be used disparagingly against transsexuals and Fox may have requested a less harsh alternative to the original line, as they have before.

All in the Family: A remarkably similar situation – a draft dodger who was living in Canada, to escape prosecution for ignoring his notice to report for duty and fight in the Vietnam War - was shown on a Holiday Episode, that being that series' 1976 Christmas Episode "The Draft Dodger." Like Family Guy's "Thanksgiving," the guest character is able to keep hold of his secret but as another character begins asking questions the truth slowly is revealed, leading to anger, disgust and an emotional argument about the merits of said war and questioning its morality, before a counterpoint is made and peace is (somewhat) restored.

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